Are Raptors in trade talks for Hornets star LaMelo Ball?

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The Charlotte Hornets are somewhat surprisingly fielding offers for star point guard LaMelo Ball, and the Toronto Raptors are sniffing around, according to NBA insiders.

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ESPN’s Shams Charania reported late Wednesday night that:

“Multiple teams are strongly pursuing LaMelo Ball right now. The Hornets are engaged right now,” Charania said.

“Ball does want to be in Charlotte, I’m told, but Charlotte is fielding some aggressive offers and if the price is met, he could very well be on the move. This is a developing story, potentially in the next 24-48 hours.”

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Former ESPN insider Marc Stein, of The Stein LIne, reported that Toronto and Minnesota are “two of the teams that have emerged with interest (in Ball),” according to league sources. Stein’s colleague Jake Fischer added:

“Lamelo Ball, sources say, has been looking forward to this upcoming Hornets season to build off of Charlotte’s momentum from 2025-26, but the Hornets are indeed engaging the trade market for their franchise guard.”

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Raptors general manager Bobby Webster had said on a media call after the first round of the NBA draft Wednesday that at some point the team wants to make a big splash. The last one came when they dealt for Brandon Ingram a couple of seasons ago.

“I think people saw (Monday) a couple big deals that went down (the blockbuster involving Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Julius Randle trade), and not that they were holding up the rest of the league, but I think that, gave everyone a chance to exhale,” Webster said.

“We’ve been stockpiling, and what we’ve been patient on over the past couple years, having a lot of assets, having our first-round picks, having players under rookie scale contracts,” Webster said. “That’s allowed us to build and be the youngest team in the playoffs, but yeah, at a certain point we want to be all participant in the trade market, and so you know we’ll look to do that, over the course of the summer and even into the trade deadline next season.”

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Well, summer officially started a few days ago and maybe the fireworks are about to begin as well.

Toronto has more valuable assets to offer compared to the Timberwolves, who already have dealt away a lot of future draft picks. Toronto owns all its future firsts for years to come.

Ball, 24, the third pick in 2020 and one of the most talented offensive players in the sport, has three years left on his contract at a reasonable number ($40 million and change this year and rising to over $46 million in the third year). He averaged 20.1 points and 7.1 assists for the resurgent Hornets in 2025-26 in 72 games. Before that Ball had missed significant portions of the prior three seasons after playing in 75 games as a sophomore and injury concerns could be a reason why Charlotte would consider moving him now.

Ball is fourth amongst all players in three-point attempts per game since entering the league and sixth in makes, but has shot only 36.5% from three in part because of his sometimes erratic shot selection. He’s already good enough to be a rookie of the year winner and all-star, but with some refinement and sheltered by the strong collection of defensive players Toronto has assembled, could thrive if a deal could be reached.

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What could the Raptors offer?

The big question would be whether the Raptors would include Collin Murray-Boyles in a Ball deal. Charlotte would surely ask for the Colombia, S.C., native, who is coming off a stellar rookie season and would be an awesome fit alongside Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller and the other big-time shooters Charlotte has shrewdly acquired. It’s one thing to surrender starting point guard Immanuel Quickley (or RJ Barrett if Charlotte preferred an expiring contract to a positional need in Quickley) and a handful of future first round picks, quite another to unload a player of as much promise as Murray-Boyles as well.

Something like Quickley, Murray-Boyles and Toronto’s 2027 and 2029 firsts plus a future pick swap would likely be the Charlotte ask. Toronto could theoretically counter with Ja’Kobe Walter instead of Murray-Boyles, but Walter has a lot of promise himself and could be the team’s starting shooting guard of the future, depending on what happens with Barrett.

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Anything like those ideas would be risky, considering Ball’s injury history and unique personality.

What could Minnesota offer?

The Timberwolves aren’t in the most flexible spot, even after recently cap-dumping Randle’s $33-million contract. The trade exception created from that move isn’t big enough to absorb Ball’s contract. That means the only reasonable alternatives would be including prized forward Jaden McDaniels and the injured Donte DiVincenzo to make the money work. Then the Wolves would have to surrender draft capital, though less than Toronto since McDaniels is arguably the best player offered to Charlotte in these theoretical trade packages. Minnesota does not have its 2027, 2029, or 2031 first rounders and San Antonio can swap firsts in 2030 if they somehow have a worse record than the Timberwolves. Paring Anthony Edwards, the runner-up to Ball as rookie of the year but easily the best player from that draft would form perhaps the most deadly offensive backcourt in the NBA, but wouldn’t leave the Wolves with much else, especially if interesting youngsters Joan Beringer or Terrence Shannon Jr. were involved.

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A more workable scenario could involve expanding the Randle deal (which isn’t yet official) by including DiVincenzo and enough picks and prospects for Charlotte to agree. Still, without McDaniels, Toronto can best a Wolves offer (and they probably can even if McDaniels is involved).

We’ll see where this goes. Toronto needs to make a splash at some point and wants to do so, but is Ball the right target?

ESPN’s Bobby Marks mused about a Kawhi Leonard return to Toronto Thursday. Don’t hold your breath on that one, Leonard likes the West Coast too much.

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